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Levellers

UEA LCR, Norwich

Thursday 4th June 2026

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📷 Denis Gorbatov

LEVELLERs – Norwich – live review

Brighton folk-punks Levellers have long since secured their place in history. From their Britpop adjacent 90’s popularity and headlining Glastonbury, to creating their own much-loved festival Beautiful Days and their continuing longevity as a revered collective.

With festival season again upon us, the band are again out and about. Tonight they are at the UEA in Norwich where the typical British summer is in full flow. The weather doesn’t dampen the spirits of fans however as they queue round the block to get in and get their spot.

THE MEFFS

Early attendees are in for a treat as The Meffs have made the journey from Colchester to get us warmed up. Levellers have a knack for good supports, and this duo is one of the best new bands on the circuit right now.

They are given a generous opening set, and they absolutely make the most of it. With many Meffs t-shirts visible in the crowd it’s clear that many are already fans and for any in attendance not familiar, then they are soon converted with the crowd happily getting some crowd interaction practice in before the headliners.

With a new album on the way it’s great to see how new tracks ‘Business’ and ‘Disorder (Wake Up)’ fit in so seamlessly against fan favourites like ‘Broken Britain, Broken Bones’ and ‘Clowns’.

The Meffs are pretty faultless live with their punk energy always creating a fun atmosphere. Not many bands are going to be able to follow them in the future.

LEVELLERS

But that’s not a worry for Levellers, who are among the very best at bringing about a punk rock party full of singing and dancing!

You can feel the love from the audience immediately as they begin their set with ‘The Fear’ and ‘Hope St.’ from their fourth album, ‘Zeitgeist’, which turned thirty last year. Tonight though is centred around the thirty-fifth anniversary of their seminal sophomore album, ‘Levelling the Land’.

As such the vast majority of the album gets an airing this evening but intermixed with other tracks rather than the now standard album in full style celebrations. This works well and whilst giving the album the love it deserves ensures that this is still at its core just another big Levellers party.

The band are full of energy, and the crowd tonight are more than happy to reciprocate that passion. The likes of ‘One Way’ and ‘Beautiful Day’ naturally get big responses but its telling that the levels never drop throughout their performance. Levellers are indeed in blistering form.

Tonight is something of a teaser, an amuse-bouche if you will, for a full UK Tour this autumn which will also feature The Meffs in the opening slot (plus Neds Atomic Dustbin on select dates). On the evidence of this performance, those are shows that you will not want to miss.

Thankfully for those in attendance tonight, there is still time for an encore of ‘Far From Home’ and ‘The Riverflow’, which really is the cherry on top of the cake that this evening has been.

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Don Broco

UEA LCR, Norwich

Saturday 2nd December 2023

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📸 (c) Denis Gorbatov / Full Pelt Music

DON BROCO – NORWICH – LIVE REVIEW

Don Broco are currently finishing out their ‘Amazing Things’ cycle with another trek around the UK and tonight that places them at the UEA LCR in a frostbitten Norwich. Anticipation is clearly high for a fantastic three band bill and the venue is already raring to go as our opening act take to the stage.

OCEAN GROVE

All the way from Australia are nu-metal progeny Ocean Grove, they bring a little sunshine with them to get the crowd warmed up! Tracks like ‘Cali Sun’ and ‘Sunny’ don’t just fit the analogy but truly do get the audience moving and interacting from the very start.

The group are able to deliver their set with absolute assurity and given the traditional show of hands highlights many previously uninitiated amongst the crowd, you’d imagine that their confidence pays off tonight with the recruitment of a new horde of followers!

TRASH BOAT

Playing as main support on this great line-up is St.Albans band Trash Boat. With their most recent album, ‘Don’t You Feel Amazing?’, the band took their sound to a whole new level and that album makes up the majority of the set tonight. The likes of ‘Silence Is Golden’ and ‘Bad Entertainment’ help them to ensure that the crowd’s incredible early energy doesn’t wane.

Vocalist Tobi Duncan says that a new album is on the way and tonight new tracks ‘Delusions of Grandeur’ and ‘Liar Liar’ both get airings which are well received. The final trio of ‘Alpha Omega’, ‘Don’t You Feel Amazing?’ and ‘He’s So Good’ is a great way to close out their time on stage as Trash Boat leave their fans excited for more new music and a headline tour in the not too distant future!

DON BROCO

The dancefloor at the LCR is packed full as Don Broco take to the stage and bodies instantly start bouncing as they kick their set off with ‘Gumshield’, ‘Manchester Super Reds No.1 Fan’ and ‘ACTION’.

As you’d expect from a tour supporting ‘Amazing Things’, that album features heavily tonight but there is a nice mix of old and new material in the setlist as the band celebrate a decade (plus one) of debut album, ‘Priorities’.

The Don Broco back catalogue at this point though is already quite absurd and it must be hard to select the setlist each night. It doesn’t matter which song is being played therefore, because the crowd lap up everything that Broco throw at them. The atmosphere is truly special tonight, and whilst the people of Norwich deserve credit, it’s obviously a indictment of where Don Broco are as a band.

Whether playing large festival stages, headlining arenas or playing these more intimate affairs, Broco always give it their all and create an epic experience for their fans. Case in point, the sight of a sweat-soaked crowd spinning their t-shirts over their heads during ‘T-Shirt Song’, despite it being -2°C outside!

And as the crowd disperses into the freezing cold night, you know that once again the Broco boys have delivered a night that will live long in the memory for those lucky enough to be in attendance.

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Trivium

UEA LCR, Norwich

Thursday 24th August 2023

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TRIVIUM – NORWICH – LIVE REVIEW

All 📸 (C) Denis Gorbatov / Full Pelt Music

As Trivium themselves proclaim tonight, it always feels like a homecoming when the Floridian metallers come to the UK. The band grew up on our island and their success has become intrinsically linked to the response of the UK to each release.

Tonight will see the band at the UEA in Norwich playing a tailored set to include a celebration of ‘Shogun’. Their fourth studio album, the record arrived at a crucial time for the band as they navigated a lukewarm response to ‘The Crusade’ – an album which was supposed to take the band to the pinnacle of the industry.

When that didn’t happen, ‘Shogun’ was the reset moment needed for the band to almost start again. Over the course of the subsequent fifteen years the band have matured into one of the most loved and respected metal bands on the planet with a consistent flow of high quality albums which looking back is quite astonishing.

ORBIT CULTURE

Also astonishing is the bands aptitude for selecting support acts and on this run of shows, they have both Orbit Culture and Bleed From Within along for the ride! Swedes Orbit Culture are a decade into their own career and that comes across with an experienced and assured performance to get the crowd engaged early.

BLEED FROM WITHIN

Having formed back in 2005, Bleed From Within certainly can’t be classed as a new band either, but the current momentum behind them is relatively new. Emerging from the pandemic with not one, but two acclaimed albums the band have made of the most of their recent studio time.

They’ve also made the very most of any stage time given to them and again tonight if you didn’t arrive as a fan of the band, you’ll most definitely be leaving as one. The group are able to create an instant connection with the audience and the synergy between them is mightily impressive.

TRIVIUM

With both bands having already turned the venue into a sweatbox, it’s soon enough time for Trivium to arrive on stage and close out the evening with ninety minutes of pure majestic brutality.

‘In The Court of the Dragon’ and ‘Down From The Sky’ quickly ensure that the audience is fully onside as the band flex their muscles early. It isn’t long before the likes of ‘Strife’ and ‘Pull Harder on the Strings of Your Martyr’ absolutely annihilate venue security with a seemingly endless barrage of crowd surfers.

The love between band and audience is clear for all to see and as the band begin to explore ‘Shogun’ with rarities likes ‘The Calamity’ and ‘Insurrection’, an appreciation of the depths of the bands discography is overwhelming.

Newer material like ‘Catastrophist’ and ‘The Heart From Your Hate’ receive just as euphoric responses tonight as classics like ‘A Gunshot to the Head of Trepidation’ and staple set closer ‘In Waves’. This is just further evidence both of the bands connection with the UK audience but most pertinently the intense quality of all their releases.

Ten albums and nearly twenty-five years in the band tease a short break is coming after this tour. Whilst this is very much hard earned, on the form the band find themselves in both on record and onstage as evidenced tonight, you are left praying that the gap isn’t that long!

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Bury Tomorrow

UEA LCR, Norwich

Monday 31st October 2022

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BURY TOMORROW – NORWICH – LIVE REVIEW

Amber leaves lay sodden on the ground, there is a crisp chill in the autumnal air and there is an awful lot of black clothing amongst the excited crowds gathering at the UEA LCR door. Yes, whilst the ghouls and spooks are out guising across Norwich this All Hallows’ Eve, the city’s metal community are haunting its largest venue.

There are no tricks here this Halloween, just the treat of a hard hitting night of action from the double-headed monster that is the co-headlining Bury Tomorrow and August Burns Red, albeit with a re-jigged undercard.

NOVELISTS FR

Gone just days ahead of the tour are Miss May I, joining Thornhill in departing the tour originally booked some 3 years ago (we all know what has transpired in that time!). Jumping in on short notice however are Novelists FR who receive a warm welcome.

As they arrive onstage in a venue festively decorated with ghostly figures, the early crowd show that they are here for some fun tonight. The French latecomers are able to deliver just what is needed to warm everyone up for the barrage of noise that is set to follow.

AUGUST BURNS RED

Up next is August Burns Red, who instantly rile the audience up with a quick run-through of System of a Down classic ‘Chop Suey!’. Clearly the band have many fans in the audience and those fans are treated to an hour of brutality from a band well versed in serving up crowd pleasing performances.

BURY TOMORROW

Our headliners Bury Tomorrow arrive onstage, dressed in white paper suits, and instantly bring the ferocity and intensity that has earned them their pedigree as a live act. The opening three tracks instigate a hot atmosphere in the crowd, until sadly a lengthy medical incident in the audience derails the momentum.

It has to be said the response from the band, the crowd, the security, the venue and medical staff is fantastic, and hopefully that individual is ok! It naturally takes a short while to find the same level of energy again, but Bury Tomorrow ensure that soon enough the party is back in full swing.

‘LIFE (Paradise Denied)’ particularly does well in getting the atmosphere back on track and helps return the band to their stride. It isn’t just Halloween that has the bodies moving tonight, and by the time the show comes to an end everyone in the venue, be it human, monster, vampire or ghost as had a great time.

Soon this tour heads off into Europe, and next year Bury Tomorrow will return with their seventh album. But right now we return to the dark, cold and creepy outdoors.

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